


The Sentinel

by Bolontiku



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:26:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26044957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bolontiku/pseuds/Bolontiku
Summary: image prompt
Comments: 7
Kudos: 4





	The Sentinel

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Tilltheendwilliwrite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tilltheendwilliwrite/gifts).



From the first moment you exist, that first intake of breath, when you first register the touch of another being, the first thought you have.

You are a Sentinel. 

There is only one reason you were made. 

Only one.

You are to guide.

A millennia of watching over those that could not protect themselves. Of guiding them. Watching as they made war, as brother killed brother, mother killed daughter, strangers saving others. 

There is no emotion attached to it but that of duty. You are duty bound to see to their safety as they follow the path they are taking. Communication for us known as sentinel is on a different level. We know what we are to do, just as they know they are breathing. There is no conscious thought to it, it just is. We have no real names, yet we know each other. Some of us take names. 

We know where the others are, come across each other every now and then. 

We also know when one of us is no more. 

**

The mortal assigned to me is reckless, he is sure of himself and as he runs into war I feel a sense of pride. There is no need to worry, he can handle himself. 

He laughs with the men that accompany him, or is it the other way around? I watch as deep blue eyes shut, white teeth flashing in the light of the fire as he laughs heartily. Teeth flashing bright, a genuine grin spread across his features. Something shifts inside, I look away.

My kind move easily without them seeing us, we live and breathe on a different plane, a different existence so close yet so far. For those of us losing our place, we disappear quietly, for those of us that have failed, we turn to stone. Neither is preferable but it seems our existence is coming to an end. We are needed less and less, their belief in us is wavering.

Reaching out a finger I run it along his sharp jawline as he rests. He is interesting, not like others I have dealt with. Dark hair, tangled in places, warm brown mixed with copper from the sun, tanned skin. Pale scars stripped over his forearms and here and there on his lean battle hardened torso. Once he was small and lithe, grew into these muscles.

Those blue eyes are open, staring right at me as I look back at his face, it’s startling, to be seen by one like him. 

"Who are you?" he rasps quietly, deep blue eyes peering up into mine.

I've listened to his voice for so long, to hear him whisper, so close- 

It takes a moment to shift the veil, slip back into my own plane, slipping back into the shadows as he scrubs at his eyes sitting up as quickly as he can. Staring at where I had stood he shakes his head, certain he was seeing what was nothing but shadows.

**

"Did you know there are more ways to skin a rabbit than one?" He has come to do this. Speaking to himself every chance he gets, his men were unnerved at first. Believing that he had lost his mind, especially when he told them of the angel he had seen. 

Angel.

Mistaken human beliefs. 

He shifts subtlety, his charge looks at where he stands, does he see him? The blond purses his lips, perhaps he had become too familiar with the humans. Was that possible?

We serve no deity. We are here to ensure the mortals do not destroy too greatly, that they not lose their way. Steer them in the correct direction. There are fewer of us left though. Blinking out like a star in the night, quick and only known to others like us. 

"-ame?" I blink and stare at the man, focusing back on him rather than the surroundings he chose to ignore, more than likely due to having so many of his men around. Dark long locks hanging and framing his strong face. "I think my angel should have a name? But nothing normal? What would it be? Maybe you can visit me in the quiet of the night while I dream and you can tell me. I won't share it with another." He looked thoughtful for a moment, “even if it is a boring name, I should like to know it.” He snickered, others watching shook their heads, he spoke to himself but was unmatched on the field, and so long as he made good calls, as the men came back home to fight another day, who cared?

Humans. 

Always looking to name those they think are pets. 

What is in a name?

Especially for a sentinel?

Rolling his eyes the tall blonde crosses his arms over his broad chest, watching as the men make camp, talking over one another. There is war to see to in the morning. He easily dwarfs all the men, wings spanning the length of four of these men if they stood shoulder to shoulder on either side of him. He folded them behind his back, tucking in close, shoulders shifting with the movement. Baby blue eyes watched as his charge made his way to his own tent, he followed, easily slipping between the mortals around him. 

He stood beside pelts that made up his bed, turning when the wind shifted the flap of the tent. Deep blue eyes scanning the small area, "I know you're here, I can  _ feel _ you." He licked his lips, eyes darting back and forth in the silence, he hung his head after a moment, hand scrubbing at his face. "I may not come back tomorrow, I want to see your face? If you are with me… just once more?" 

He felt ridiculous as the silence stretched on, tumbling into the pelts and letting sleep take him.

He was fast and deep in slumber when the Sentinel sat by him. 

**

War is disgusting. 

Dirty, filthy, bloody. 

There is no man that dies not cry the name of a female as they fall, be it the name of mother or wife, perhaps both.

He was beautiful. Striking his enemies down with his war cries, color painted across his face, beautiful. Muscles shifting with strength and power as he made his way across the field. Tonight, perhaps tonight he would give him his name... 

Beautiful. 

One job, guidance. 

He felt the hit, the way the blade cut into his abdomen, the feel of the ground underfoot. 

Deep blue eyes stared up at him as he knelt in the blood soaked ground, “you’re here.”

“Do not do this.” He spoke firmly, used to others listening to him when he spoke in that fashion.

That grin spread so easily across his lips, even as his blood soaked into the ground, warming his skin, the body he held cooling. “I knew you were beautiful.”

“Steve.”

Brows caught together before his expression cleared, “Bucky.”

“Bucky…”

The silence was familiar. This was his charge. And this was the end.

Silence filled the world around him, so this was what it was like. The weight in his chest filled him, spreading to his gut, arms weighing down heavily as he bent over him. He could protect him in his last moments. The war raging on, screams and clashing of iron clanging through the air. He felt his limbs weighing down, he stretched his wings out once more, circling them protectively around their bodies for one more moment, the last feeling of freedom. It escaped with the quiet sigh of his breath. 

His wings weighed down, silk feathers turning to stone. It shocked him to find his charge turning with him, and it comforted him as his world began to darken. At least in this he could not fail. Eyes closing as he held his charge, his Bucky, they would not be alone.

**

It was a dare. 

A very stupid dare. 

His classmates laughed as he posed by the statue. They egged him on, daring him to kiss the statue as they snapped selfies and shot pictures off, quickly posting to social media. James laughed refusing, outside under the weather for so long, birds passing and what other wildlife had touched it. He wouldn't dare!

A gargoyle leaning over a human. 

So ugly, but James had always loved the two. To him it was beautiful. The story was that the campus had been built around it, but James knew someone had to have commissioned it. Statues didn't just appear.

And now it was late, he had been on his way back to his apartment, after a study session at the library. He stopped and looked up, after lighting a cigarette, “wish someone loved me the way you loved him,” he cracked, dropping to the base of the statue to rest for a moment. Flicking the rest of the cigarette he sighed heavily. 

It was stupid.

Still he found himself climbing back up, leaning between the two figures and pressing his lips to the quiet frown the artist had put there. 

James snorted as he dropped back down. “Fuckin’ stupid.” He kicked at the ground as he stepped away, and looked back when he heard something crack loudly. “The-” he jumped back as stone fell to the ground by his feet, startled. James felt his heart jackhammer against his ribs as the figure moved, shuddering and shaking. The lover disappearing and James stared into baby blue eyes as wings expanded and stone broke, chipping away under the flutter of feathers which swung out and upwards before settling back and shimmering into nothing. James felt his hands shake, as the blond pinned him with his stare.

“Bucky?”


End file.
